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Just wanting a general opinion from experience. With this cold front the crappie I have been finding in the creeks have all but disappeared. I mean like to the point the only crappie I found were on standing timber and brush 23ft of water completely withdrawn from creek. I’m also just finding a few. No numbers stacked. Does this hurt the crappie spawn? And also where are these crappie going? Went from catching 45-50 in 3 hours to struggling to get 10 in 6-8 hours. What am I doing wrong?
It ain't you, it's the weather. Give it a week or 2 and they'll be back shallow and ready to eat.
That cold front messed the cats up too. maybe in 2 weeks they will be back in them areas again...
I dont know if the crappie move all that far or not. I sometimes think theyre hugging the bottom so much that you cannot see them on sonar. JMO....I could be wrong. Ive changed out all my longline rods from fishing 1/32nd back to 1/16ths and intend on fishing the same general area....just back towards the 9'-10' depths instead of the 5'-8' deep waters. It will probably be next week before the winds allow me to go though. Tomorrow Little League begins and my grand daughter (4 years old) plays her first game!:)
The fish I’m targeting are still deep and suspended shallow in the water column. My water temperature dropped 4 degrees during this cold snap. I saw little to no difference in location and very little in aggressiveness. The cold effected me more than the fist. Attachment 452525Attachment 452526
Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app
I’m no live scoper, not even a fan of this technology. But my observations from experience is the fish don’t move out, they move vertical once committed. Typically during cold snaps, the afternoon bite is better than morning. If you’re like me and like arriving early, then fish deeper, all the way to the bottom in the same areas you were catching them. It would take an extended cold snap to move fish way out.
We have also had @ a 4 degree drop in water temps. Looking at this coming week's forecast we are in for more cold temps...
Attachment 452570
So, even though the chart shows the temps warmed back up some it looks like with 3 more nights at 30*, 29*, and 29* we are in for more colder water temps ahead. (Map is of Clark Hill)
Attachment 452572
That is about what I was seeing yesterday afternoon. 58 to 59 degrees. I was gone for almost 2 weeks and it was warmer when I left. I only went out for a little while yesterday before the rain hit but they were not back in shallow water like when I left. Caught some in about 25 ft of water.Quote:
Originally Posted by gabowman
I will add that it was almost too trashy to long line. In places it was too much trash and had to find some clearer areas. Plan to go out later so I will see if it is better or worse after that rain.
I only got 1/2" of rain in Elberton. That aint gonna make Broad turn muddy.
Went back out for a bit this afternoon. The debris on the surface from yesterday was gone. Did not help my fishing much but I did catch a few. One strange thing I noticed was that there was a band of something showing up on downscan at about 10 ft that was 3 or 4 feet thick. Baitfish and fish were under that layer. Just a guess that it was some of the stuff from yesterday plus some pollen maybe? It seemed to clear up some later in the afternoon.
Was you longlining?
Yes. At least for as long as my trolling motor batteries held out. I am trying to put off buying new batteries so I can only get 2 or 3 hrs with the wind we had yesterday. I think I am going to have to bite the bullet and get new batteries but they are expensive right now. I doubt they get any cheaper though.Quote:
Originally Posted by gabowman
I know what you mean. I'm running two trolling batts dated 2017 and 2019. They still working (knock on wood) but I'm sweating it. My son told me to quit adding water and start adding battery acid so that is what I have been doing. I hope they last me a few more years. These are about all I can afford anymore...
Attachment 452665
Just got 2 of those back in december. They look like they are going to hold up real well. I have admittedly not used them this year. But looks like i might use them later on this week. This is my second pair of 29dc. They did real well in dec. Time to get the pontoon out and park the jon for awhile. Few crappie caught around docks before the cold spell came in.
I have a pair of Group 27 Cabela's AGM batteries that I am pretty sure I bought before the Bass Pro merger. That would make them about 7 yrs old so I have got my money's worth out of them. Pretty sure I paid a little over $100 each for them back then. I don't use them for starting but they have starting capability. Ones like that now at Bass Pro are $250 and I don't think they have the capacity that the ones I have do. I was hoping the lithium batteries would continue to drop in price. I do like that they weigh so much less and they are supposed to last much longer. They are still too expensive although they are getting closer with the lead acid batteries going up in cost.
We trolled 12 rods at Murray saturday for nearly 5 hours. Jigs and Minnows. Two different creeks up lake. Not a single fish was caught. I know im not great at crappie fishing, but dang, that was rough times.
We have all had days like that. There have been times on Lake Oconee when I would swear there were no crappie in the lake.